Scientific thinking terms Flashcards
what is accurate?
Close to the true value of what you are measuring.
what does analyses mean?
The process of looking at data and writing about what you have found out.
what is a bar chart?
A way of presenting data when one variable is discrete or categoric and the other is continuous.
what does categoric mean?
A variable that has values that are words.
what does conclusion mean?
What you write down to say what you have found out during an investigation.
what does Confidence mean?
How sure you are of your conclusion based on the data
what does Continuous mean?
A variable that has values that can be any number.
what is the Control variable?
A variable that you have to keep the same in an investigation.
what does Data mean?
Words or numbers that you obtain when you make observations or measurements
what is the Dependent variable?
A variable that changes when you change the independent variable.
what does Discrete mean?
A variable that can only have whole-number values.
what does it mean to Evaluate?
To discuss the quality of data collected during an investigation and suggest improvements to the method.
what is the Independent variable?
A variable you change that changes the dependent variable.
what is an Investigation?
An experiment or set of experiments designed to produce data to answer a scientific question or test a theory.
what is a line graph?
A way of presenting results when there are two numerical variables.
what is the line of best fit?
A smooth line on a graph that travels through or very close to as many of the points plotted as possible.
what is the mean?
An average of a set of data, found by adding together all the values in the set and dividing by the number of values in the set.
what is observation?
Carefully looking at an object or process.
what is an outlier?
A result that is very different from the other measurements in a data set.
what is a pie chart?
A way of presenting data when one variable is discrete or categoric and the other is continuous
what is random error?
An error that causes there to be a random difference between a measurement and the true value each time you measure it.
what is Reproducible?
When other people carry out an investigation and get similar results to the original investigation the results are reproducible.
what is CORMMSS
Change, Organism, Repeat, Measure, Measure (more detail), Same, Same (more detail)
what is a fair test?
A fair test is one in which only the independent variable has been allowed to affect the dependent variable. All other variables have been controlled.
what is uncertinty?
The doubt in the result because of the way that a measurement is made.
what is a systematic error?
An error that causes there to be the same difference between a measurement and the true value each time you measure it.
what is spread?
The difference between the highest and lowest measurements of a set of repeat measurements
